PCRMC Sees Improved Patient Outcomes And Reduced Readmissions

This week is National Patient Safety Week, and today, MHA is featuring patient safety endeavors at Phelps County Regional Medical Center in Rolla. PCRMC staff understand the importance of identifying risks for issues that may arise after patients are discharged. That is why a multidisciplinary team of nurses, care managers, pharmacists and others work to mitigate those risks using the 8P Risk Assessment. This screening tool — which refers to eight different risk factors — has led to improved patient outcomes and reduced readmission rates at PCRMC. Laura Fritchey, a registered nurse at PCRMC, finds the 8P assessment useful since many patients are discharged with several different, and sometimes new, medications that require in-depth instructions. According to Fritchey, “By focusing on specific education, patients are able to go home after being discharged with a better understanding of what they can do to help themselves with their recovery.”

MHA Distributes Medicare Final Episode Payment Model Analysis

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a new episode payment model, which rewards or penalizes hospitals based on their quality and cost of providing services for coronary artery bypass graft, acute myocardial infarction and surgical hip/femur fracture treatment, excluding lower extremity joint replacement services. Although CMS has postponed the effective date of the final regulation from Feb. 18 to March 21, the effective date of the EPM remains Saturday, July 1. The EPM affects hospitals located in certain urban MSAs. However, hospitals that are not subject to the EPM also will receive an analysis. Policy and analytic studies are made available for download to authorized users of HIDI Analytic Advantage.®

Trajectories — Infection Control Strategies

The March 2017 issue of Trajectories highlights integrated infection control strategies. Because not all patients or pathogens are equal, patients with complex medical conditions or those from vulnerable populations — the immunocompromised, elderly, very young, impoverished or malnourished — often require more than efficacious cleaning and hygiene practices to prevent HAIs. Moreover, a growing number of “super bugs” — infections resistant to standard antibiotics — have left caregivers with limited options in infection management.

New research, clinical guidance and regulatory requirements are emerging to address the growing infection control challenge. In combination, they provide a framework for patient protection, increased population health improvement through health literacy and awareness, and protection of the antibiotic tools available to fight infection.

MHA Updates CHNA Guidance Document

MHA has published an updated version of the community health needs assessment guidance document. It incorporates the most current regulatory requirements from the Internal Revenue Service and provides the tools necessary to complete the assessment.

NHSC Now Accepting Scholarship Applications

The National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program is accepting scholarship applications now through Thursday, April 27. Eligible applicants are those committed to primary care and accepted to, or enrolled in, an accredited U.S. school in one of the following primary care disciplines.

The scholarship pays tuition, fees and other educational costs, and provides a living stipend in return for a commitment to work at least two years at an NHSC-approved site in a medically underserved community. Contact NHSC at 800/221-9393 for more information.